AFLQ drums up Aussie rules support in the Whitsundays

AFL Queensland were on a mission to find the next AFL superstar when they visited the Whitsunday region on Wednesday last week.

AFL provides the perfect way to make friends, enjoy being active and last Wednesday AFLQ spread the word to the Whitsunday region.

Game Development manager Dan Cordwell and two other development officers visited all the primary schools in the Whitsunday region to spread the word and develop the future of the game.

The team were promoting the Whitsunday Sea Eagles new program for the youth aged 5-12, which will "teach kids the fundamental skills and a bit about the game," Mr Cordwell said.

Most children knew what Aus Kick was and the program was well received by the schools.

"The kids had a lot of fun with us coming out," Mr Cordwell said.

Mr Cordwell said the Gold Coast Suns are the area's aligned AFL club and a community camp will visit the region in early March and potentially to Airlie Beach with a few Sun's players making the trip up for the occasion.

"They recognised the jersey and knew all the words to the club song," he said.

One hundred kids are expected to sign up for the Auskick program in the region which Mr Cordwell said "would be fantastic for the club and the area, my job is to get as many kids engaged in AFL as possible".

Sign-up day will be held on February 11 at Mackay Entertainment Centre, but parents can sign-up or register their children's interest at Play AFL before the day.

The season starts for children ages 5-12 on Thursday February 22 and the local club for the region is the Whitsunday Sea Eagles.

Whitsunday Christian College Sports coordinator Sam Priestly credits the team AFLQ for providing an engaging experience for the kids through their Auskick program and school clinics.

At WCC students get involved with football through Auskick during school hours, on breaks and after school and Mr Priestly said "the clinics are engaging and fantastic for the kids".

"We always get a good number of boys and girls who want to participate which is a credit to the kids and the guys at AFLQ," he said.

Mr Priestly anticipates that more students from WCC will participate in Auskick after a rough year in 2017.